Welcome to the wonderful quest of Chocobo breeding for the eternal masterpiece – Final Fantasy VII! If you don’t know anything about FF7 and Chocobos, you came to the right place. If you DO know anything about Chocobos.. you’re still at the right place. I hope this guide helps you on your Chocobo journey and your quest to breed a Gold Chocobo. If it doesn’t, you’re more than welcome to e-mail me your suggestions for further improving this guide. While there are many other guides out there, what makes this one unique is its ease-of-use and descriptive screenshots. Enjoy!

Disclaimer (Legal crap)

This guide is for personal use only, and may not be altered or reproduced in any way. This guide may not be used for profit purposes (i.e. printing and/or selling it), and may not be published without my authorization. You may not put this guide on your web page, but you can put a link that directs to this page.

Intro

Final Fantasy VII’s (probably) most intricate side quest is the Chocobo breeding quest. As a matter of fact, it is considered one of the most complicated quests in the entire Final Fantasy series. Do note that it is a side-quest, meaning you don’t need to complete it at all in order to finish the game and/or to enjoy it. However, by doing this side-quest, you will not only tremendously strengthen your characters, but also have a chance to explore deeper into the mysterious, yet wonderful depths of Final Fantasy VII.

Note: This guide contains many **SPOILERS**, and is recommended for players who have at least made it to the last dungeon of the game (the Northern Crater).

Generally, what you do in the quest is catching Chocobos, raising them, feeding them, racing them, and then breeding them. Sounds easy? Well it’s not, but I hope this guide will make it as simple as possible. The main goal of the Chocobo breeding quest is getting a Gold Chocobo. This Chocobo will be your best friend and your only means of achieving the strongest Materia in the game.

This guide has 17 sections. The first 16 sections describe every possible aspect in Chocobo breeding in great detail. The last section, the Step-By-Step guide, describes exactly how you should use the information given earlier in order to achieve the final goal of the Chocobo breeding quest, which is obtaining a Gold Chocobo. While you may simply skip to the last chapter and still succeed in doing the quest, I stress that you at least take a look at the earlier chapters, they should help making the process a whole lot less confusing.

First of all, why should I breed Chocobos?

The main reason for even wanting to start with the Chocobo breeding quest is acquiring some of the most powerful Materia, which cannot be acquired in any other way. By having these Materia, you will can build a powerful team which can take up on any monster or boss out there, including the insanely difficult Emerald & Ruby Weapons. These optional bosses pack a whooping 1,000,000 HP each, and prove quite a challenge for an unprepared team. By having the Materia acquired through this quest, you’ll find your team practically unbeatable.

Some of these Materia are:

Knights of the Round – The most appealing reward in the Chocobo breeding quest. Knights of the Round (known as “KotR”) is the most powerful summon Materia in the game, and probably the most powerful Materia of them all. This is the only Materia that, when being used, strikes the enemies 13 times in a row. Providing that each hit causes 9,999 damage, 13 hits of 9,999 damage will eventually add up to 129,987 damage, which can kill almost every enemy (and boss) in a single blow. And that’s not all. If you use W-Summon (the Materia that lets you summon twice in the same turn), you can do up to 259,974 damage in a single turn!

Mime – This Materia lets the character who equips it use the “Mime” command. A character who uses ‘Mime’ copies the exact action/magic/summon the last character did, even if he/she doesn’t have the required Materia equipped. For example: Cloud’s turn is on, and he’s using KotR. Next up comes Cid, which uses Mime and summons another KotR on the enemy, without equipping the KotR Materia himself. Definitely useful.

Quadra Magic – This is a very useful support Materia. When you attach it along with another magic/summon Materia, it lets you use that Materia 4 times in one turn, at the cost of one casting. For example, if you pair Quadra Magic along with Bahamut, when you use Bahamut in battle you will summon it 4 times, at the MP cost of 1 summon. Additionally, if you throw W-Summon or W-Magic into the mix, you’ll be able to cast your favorite spell/summon eight times at the cost of 2 times, all in a single turn.

When can I start?

You can start your Chocobo Breeding bonanza at disc 2, when Cid becomes the temporary leader of the group. I suggest you wait until Cloud returns to be the leader, because Gold Saucer is closed at the time Cloud is gone.

How should I prepare myself?

First of all, you will need a hefty amount of money (more than 300,000 Gil), before you even start. Some suggestions on how to easily farm Gil:

If you’re on disc 2, the best way would probably be to level up an “All” Materia to “MASTER”. Equip the Materia on a double growth weapon / armor, and fight the monsters around the forests near Mideel. They should give 300 AP per battle. Selling a “MASTER” All Materia grants you a whooping 1,400,000 Gil.

If you’re at the end of disc 3, and have reached the Northern Crater, you should go to the swamp area that is located at its depths. In order to get to that area, enter the Northern Crater, and keep going down. When you reach the first split, turn to the left. On the next screen go to the entrance on the right. This is where you can encounter monsters called “Movers”, which hand out 90,000 Gil when defeated. They are pretty easy to defeat, a fact which makes them a great way to make money.

The second thing you’ll need is some Chocobo stables. You can rent them at the Chocobo Farm (disc 2 onward – after leaving the Great Glacier). Renting a stable costs 10,000 Gil and the max stables you can rent are 6. I suggest renting all 6 of them because you’ll need them. In order to rent a stable, go to the house on the left at the Chocobo Farm and speak to Choco Bill, the person in charge of your Chocobos.

Third – Chocobo Lure Materia! You must have this Materia equipped if you ever plan on catching a Chocobo, anywhere. A high-ranked Chocobo Lure Materia should increase your chance of encountering Chocobos.

Fourth and final, you’ll need the proper Greens and Nuts in order to breed your Chocobos. The next section explains how to get them.

How do I get the proper Nuts and Greens?

Chocobo Nuts and Chocobo Greens are vital to a successful breeding process. This section describes how to obtain them, and further below I will describe how and when to use them.

Obtaining Chobobo Nuts:
You can buy some Nuts at the Chocobo Farm, but they’re all pretty much useless. Here’s how to get the good ones:

Carob Nut – You can get the Carob Nut by stealing it from Vlakorados, a red dragon found on the world map, on the area near Bone Village (see pic). He’s not very strong, but he has 33,333 HP. My advice would be to steal the Carob Nut from him and simply run away. You should obtain 3 Carob Nuts that way.

This is Vlakorados,steal a Carob Nut from him.

Note: You can also get a Carob Nut in Gold Saucer for 500 GP (talk to the lady at Wonder Square), but 500 GP are not easy to obtain, so I suggest sticking to Vlakorados.

Zeio Nut – You can steal the Zeio Nut from Goblin, a cute little midget found on Goblin Island’s forest. Goblin Island is found on the North-East area of the world map, it’s a small island shown on the map. You only need 1 Zeio Nut, by the way.

Goblin Island’s location on the world map.The (not so) mighty Goblin.You can only get a Zeio Nutfrom this dude.

Obtaining Chocobo Greens:
You can buy different kinds of greens in the Chocobo Farm, but just like the Nuts that are sold there, they’re all pretty much useless. The best Greens are called Sylkis Greens and they can only be bought at the Chocobo Sage’s house. His house is located in the world map, at the northern continent near the Icicle Inn (see pic). He sells Sylkis for 5,000 Gil a piece (told you Chocobo breeding is expensive..). Don’t bother buying them now, I’ll mention when you should do it later.

That’s the Chocobo Sage’s house,the red “+” shows its location in the world map.

How do I catch a Chocobo?

If, for some reason, you’ve forgot how to catch a Chocobo, allow me to refresh your memory.
First, equip your Chocobo Lure Materia. Go to an area on the world map with Chocobo tracks (check the pic below for what Chocobo tracks look like). If you’re lucky, you will enter a fight with a Chocobo and other monsters. The Chocobo will be yours once you have killed all the monsters surrounding him. Do note that after a few turns, if you haven’t killed all the monsters around him, the Chocobo will run away. However, you can stall him by feeding him some Greens, and that way you will have plenty of time to get rid of the rest of the enemies. You can feed him any kind of Greens (which can be bought at the Chocobo Farm). It is imperative that you do not hurt the Chocobo! If you accidentally hit him, he’ll go emotional and run away.

Chocobo tracks, only 7 of those can be found in the world map.

Once caught, you will be able to ride your Chocobo without encountering enemies. When you choose to get off of him, you’ll have an option to move him to the Chocobo Farm (assuming you have rented a stable!). If you choose so, the Chocobo will automatically run and wait for you at the Chocobo Farm, at the fenced area. Once you return to the farm, you can speak to Choco Billy (the kid, located at the house on the right), and select “Moving Chocobos”. By doing so, you will move the Chocobo you’ve caught from the fenced area outside, to one of the 6 stables you have rented.

The next map shows exactly where are the 7 Chocobo tracks located on the world map.

Chocobo tracks

Track number

Track location

1

Chocobo Farm area

2

Junon Area

3

Gold Saucer Area

4

Rocket Town Area

5

Wutai Area

6

Mideel Area

7

Icicle Inn Area

Addition information regarding the Chocobo Lure Materia: A rank 3 (3 stars) Chocobo Lure Materia doubles your chances of encountering a Chocobo over a 1-star Materia. (Rank 4/mastered is the same as rank 3). So it is highly suggested you level up your Chocobo Lure Materia before proceeding to catching Chocobos. And apparently, equipping two Chocobo Lure Materias (both at rank 3 or mastered) will once more double your chances of encountering a Chocobo over a single rank 3 materia. Unfortunately, further Chocobo Lures won’t improve it beyond that.

Addition information regarding the Greens used to catch a Chocobo: The Chocobo Farm sells all kinds of greens, some are cheap and some are not. While the cheap ones usually have the same effect as the expensive ones (preventing the Chocobo from fleeing in the battle), the cheapest one (Gyshal greens) will only keep the Chocobo occupied for a couple of turns, while the expensive ones (Reagan Greens) can keep him there for up to 8 turns. It is best to use something in the middle, I prefer Curiel Greens which seem to hold him for about 5 turns (plenty of time to kill all the enemies around the Chocobo).

What the heck is a ‘Chocobo Type’?

A ‘Chocobo Type’ determines the potential of your Chocobo, in terms of speed, stamina, etc. These stats are important for Chocobo racing (covered further below). There are 8 different types of Chocobos that can be caught, the higher the rank, the better potential your Chocobo will have. In order to see the type of the Chocobo you’ve just caught, go to the Chocobo Farm (the house on the right), speak to Choco Billy and select “Moving Chocobos”. He’ll rate the Chocobo that you’ve caught and determine his type according to this table:

Chocobo Type

Choco Billy’s Description

Poor

“This one doesn’t seem to be very good”

Weak

“I really can’t recommend this one”

Mediocre

“This Chocobo’s so-so”

Average

“This is a pretty average Chocobo”

Fair

“Mmm, this one’s not bad”

Good

“Mmm, this seems like a good Chocobo”

Great

“This is a great Chocobo”

Wonderful

“This…is a wonderful Chocobo!”

So, as you have probably guessed, Wonderful is the best type of Chocobo, and Poor is the worst one. The next section contains information on how to catch your desired type of Chocobo.

How do I determine what ‘Chocobo Type’ will I get?

Many players don’t know this, but when you enter a battle with a Chocobo and some monsters, you can determine his type just by looking at the monsters that surround him.

The following table shows just how you can find out the type of the Chocobo you have just encountered in battle and wish to catch. It is split into 7 areas (since there are 7 different Chocobo tracks around the world map), and in each area you can see which monsters can accompany the Chocobo, and what type will the Chocobo be.

Note: This table contains a lot of data which you don’t really need. I will specify exactly what needs to be done in the next few sections. This information is only here for completeness’ sake.

Area

( Enemies that surround the Chocobo ) = ( Chocobo Type )

Chocobo Farm Area

2 Mandragora = Poor

Mandragora & Levrikon = Poor

2 Levrikon = Weak

2 Elfadunk = Weak

Junon Area

2 Capparwire (Front view) = Poor

2 Nerosuferoth = Poor

3 Capparwire = Fair

2 Capparwire (Side view) = Fair

Gold Saucer Area

Harpy = Average

2 Flapbeats = Average

2 Spencer = Good

Rocket Town Area

Velcher Task & Kyuvilduns = Mediocre

2 Velcher Task = Mediocre

2 Valron = Great

2 Kyuvilduns = Great

Wutai Area

3 Tail Vault = Average

2 Tail Vault (Front view) = Average

2 Tail Vault (Side view) = Fair

3 Razor Weeds = Fair

Mideel Area

3 Head Hunters = Fair

2 Head Hunters = Fair

Spiral = Great

2 Spirals = Great

Icicle Inn Area
(Snowy Field)

2 Bandersnatch = Weak

Bandersnatch & Jumping = Weak

Jumping = Wonderful

2 Jumping = Wonderful

How do I determine what ‘Chocobo Gender’ will I get?

Chocobos can be either Male or Female, and breeding can only be done between a male and a female. Unfortunately, there is no way of determining the gender of the Chocobo you’ve just caught in the same way that you could determine his/her type. The gender is chosen randomly (50/50 chance of being a male/female) when you examine the captured Chocobo at the Chocobo Farm for the first time.

So, let’s say you want a male Chocobo. Assuming you figured out which ‘type’ you need, based on the preceding chapter you would travel to one of the 7 Chocobo tracks and try to catch a Chocobo. After you have caught the Chocobo, but before going to the Chocobo Farm, SAVE YOUR GAME, and then enter the farm. Go to Choco Billy and select “Moving Chocobos” in order to see your Chocobo’s type and gender. If you got a female Chocobo simply restart the game and try again.

The reason for this is quite simple. The game determines your Chocobo’s gender ONLY when you choose to move him/her into the Stables. And since the gender is randomized, all you need is to try a few loads until you get your wanted gender.

Naming your Chocobos

While this may seem as an unnecessary topic, I believe it should be covered. After you start catching a few Chocobos, you will find yourself a bit confused as to which of your caught Chocobo has which type or gender. All the yellow Chocobos look the same, no matter if they are ‘Poor’ or ‘Wonderful’, or if they are male or female. Therefore, the way you name your Chocobo will be your most useful tool in figuring out its type and gender.

When you catch a Chocobo and move it into a stable at the Chocobo Farm, you will be required to name it (maximum 6 letters per name). Give your Chocobo a name that will help you determine its type and gender, in order to prevent confusion in the future. For example: If you’ve caught a Great female Chocobo, name it “F-Gr8”. F indicates the gender (F=Female, M=Male) and Gr8 indicates the Chocobo’s type (Great).

It’s a challenge giving your Chocobos meaningful names when you are only given 6 letters though.

What do I do with the Nuts?

Nuts make two of the Chocobos you choose mate (and you have to breed a male with a female, of course). When you breed two specific Chocobos types with a specific nut, a colored Chocobo might be born. All these “breeding combinations” are detailed further below. In order to breed your Chocobos, speak with Choco Billy and select “Breeding Chocobos”. You’ll be asked with what kind of nut you want to make them breed. More info on that later.

What do I do with the Greens?

Feeding Chocobos – Feeding your Chocobos makes them stronger, by raising their status. By status I mean Top Speed, Stamina and Intelligence/Co-operation. These attributes determine the Chocobo’s performance when attempting Chocobo racing, so raising these properties will increase your chances of winning the races. Top Speed determines the Chocobo’s, umm, top speed, Stamina determines how long your Chocobo will be able to dash or sprint, and Intelligence/Co-operation determines how your Chocobo will behave in automatic or manual mode, “stupid” Chocobos tend to run in zigzags or suddenly slow down.

In order to feed your Chocobo, speak to Choco Billy and choose “Feeding Chocobos” (you can only feed Chocobos that you’ve already moved into one of the stables that you’ve rented). After you select Feeding Chocobos you’ll be asked with what kind of Greens you want to feed your Chocobo. Remember the Sylkis Greens I told you about? Well, they’re the best for raising your Chocobos’ status, so you better use’em!

Note: Although there’s no limit to how many Sylkis Greens you can feed your Chocobo with, feeding him too much will prove to be a money sink, because his stats will have already maxed out after a certain amount. By maxing out the Chocobo’s status I mean that his status won’t increase any further (for example: Feeding your Poor Chocobo with 5 Sylkis or with 99 Sylkis won’t make too big of a difference). Also note that each type of Chocobo requires different amounts of Greens in order to max out his stats.

Here’s a list of approximately how many Sylkis you’ll need to feed each Chocobo in order to max out his stats:

Note: Those aren’t exact numbers, but they’re pretty close. For racing purposes these quantities seem to be enough for you to have little to no trouble winning Chocobo races. The real cap seems to vary between different Chocobos and there’s some randomization involved as well. If money isn’t a consideration, feel free to further feed your Chocobo with Greens.

Racing Chocobos at Gold Saucer

An important aspect of Chocobo breeding is racing them at the Gold Saucer. Remember how Cloud needed to participate in a race in order to escape Corel Prison? Well, you’ll be doing a whole lot more of those. And it can get boring and tedious. However, doing so will increase your Chocobo’s ‘Class’, which in turn would improve its chances of producing a better offspring when being bred. You can also win some pretty awesome prizes through winning in races.

The Gold Saucer divides Chocobos into 4 classes: C (the lowest), B , A and S (the highest). Every wild Chocobo you’ll catch will automatically belong in the C-Class (even a Wonderful Chocobo). Sometimes you’ll have to raise your Chocobo’s class in order to breed him (explained below).

How do you race your Chocobo?
Go to the Chocobo Square at the Golden Saucer and speak to Ester, on the upper-left corner of the room (she looks like a bunny…). She’ll ask you to choose the Chocobo you want to race (only the ones that you’ve moved into the Chocobo stables!). After that she’ll ask you whether you want the long course or the short one. I suggest taking the short one when your Chocobo’s class is low because it’ll be easier (and shorter as well 🙂 ).

When the race starts, you’ll be able to switch from “Automatic Mode” to “Manual Mode” by pressing [Select]/[Assist]. On Automatic Mode, the Chocobo runs and acts on his own so you don’t need to control him, but he’ll act foolishly (run in zigzags, waste stamina too early, etc’). On Manual Mode, you get to control your Chocobo which is much safer (and more fun 🙂 ).

Regardless of how you choose to race your Chocobo, after 3 wins (they don’t have to be consecutive wins), your Chocobo will have moved up a class. Moving up a class means encountering tougher opponents but also better prizes. Some of the prizes in the A and S Classes are very rare and powerful, so when you get a powerful Chocobo, I suggest taking some time to do a few races in the A or S classes and reap up some rewards.

Important note: Sometimes, in B, A or S classes, one of your opponents will be Joe and his Black Chocobo Teioh. His Chocobo will always be faster than your Chocobo, and his Stamina will be better as well. Nevertheless, you can still beat Joe and his Chocobo, but it might be not as easy as beating other opponents. The best way to beat him is to dash in front of him, block him and try to prevent him from passing you.

Chocobo Breeding combinations

Now that you know that each Chocobo has a type (Poor, Wonderful, etc’), a gender (male or female) and a class (Class C,B,A and S) you will be able to understand the following formulas. By breeding specific Chocobo kinds using specific nuts, you can have a colored Chocobo born!

Colored Chocobos have special abilities, detailed on the next section.

* Luck? What the hell? Yes, as you may have already noticed, many aspects of the game are random. Battle encounters, enemy behavior, item drops are random, as well the Chocobo’s gender (as we saw previously), and the result of the offspring produced by mating two Chocobos. All these random choices are computed using the game’s internal Random Number Generator (RNG). This means that if, for example, you have just bred a Great Female (B Class) with a Good Male (B Class), you may get either a Green or a Blue Chocobo. If you are unsatisfied with the result, you can always SOFT RESET the game, and try breeding again (just remember – save before breeding!). However, there is one annoying little issue…

Random Number Generator bug: For many players, it appears that they always seem to be getting a Green Chocobo, no matter how many times they have tried reloading the game. There have been many discussions on the matter, and this seems to stem from a bug with the game’s internal RNG mechanism. This means that the game’s “randomness” is stuck – and you will always have the exact same result after breeding (i.e., always a Green Chocobo). In order to “unfreeze” this mechanism, it is advised to try entering/exiting the Chocobo Farm multiple times and feeding Greens of any sort. In addition, make sure you’re doing a SOFT RESET between each try.

Colored Chocobos’ abilities

Each colored Chocobo has a special “Gift” that lets him do special things that a normal Chocobo can’t do.

Green Chocobo – The Green Chocobo can climb hills and mountains.Blue Chocobo – The Blue Chocobo can cross rivers and shallow waters.Black Chocobo – The Black Chocobo is a combination between the Blue and the Green Chocobo. He can cross mountains as well as rivers and shallow water.Gold Chocobo – The gold Chocobo is like the black Chocobo, but it can also cross deep oceans. He can go anywhere in the map, except underwater.

Additionally, when riding any type of Chocobo (no matter what kind), the enemy encounter rate drops to zero (which means you won’t meet any enemies, as long as you’re on your Chocobo).

Waiting for Chocobos to mature

Chocobos that were just born and Chocobos that just gave birth can’t be immediately bred again. They need time to “mature”. Actually, it’s not a matter of time, it’s a matter of how many battles you have fought after the birth took place. If you have a Chocobo that has just given birth and you need to breed it again but you can’t, simply go outside and fight between 3 to 10 battles. By then he should be “matured”. Chocobos which were just born, cannot breed until you have fought between 3 to 18 battles.

So in short,
Parent Chocobos (Chocobos which just gave birth) – 3 to 10 battles before they can breed again
Child Chocobos (Chocobos which were just born) – 3 to 18 battles before they have matured and can be bred.

Collecting the rewards

After you’ve bothered with the breeding and all, you should know where the rewards are, so you’ll be able to collect them all. The special Materia that can’t be acquired in any other way are located in hidden caves which are called Materia caves. These caves can only be reached by riding a colored Chocobo, because the Highwind can’t land there. There are 4 Materia caves in the world map. The Materia and their caves’ location are:

HP <=> MP Materia [Click here for a map] – This cave is found north of North Corel and it can only be reached with a Blue, Black or Gold Chocobo. Ride the Chocobo into the Highwind, fly to the grassy field near the Corel Area entrance to Mount Corel, and ride the Chocobo across the shallow river.

Quadra Magic Materia [Click here for a map] – This cave is located at the South-East area of the world map, east of Mideel. That area is made of 3 “talons”, the cave is at the northern tip of the smallest talon. Can only be reached by riding a Blue, Black or Gold Chocobo. Land the Highwind near the Mideel Area and ride your Chocobo on the water shallows to reach the cave.

Mime Materia [Click here for a map] – This cave is located in the middle of the Wutai Area’s east coast and can only be reached with a Green, Black or Gold Chocobo. Land the Highwind anywhere in Wutai Area and ride the Chocobo over the mountains to reach the cave.

Knights of the Round Materia [Click here for a map] – The most powerful Materia is located on a tiny island that doesn’t appear on any map and can only be reached using a Gold Chocobo. Ride the Chocobo toward the northeast corner of the map until you find a small island (“Round Island”) with a cave.

There are more locations that can’t be accessed with the Highwind:

Ancient Forest – The Ancient Forest contains many valuable items such as Cloud’s Apocalypse (triple growth weapon) and the Typhoon summon Materia. The Ancient Forest is located east of Cosmo Canyon, and you can only get there with a green, black or gold Chocobo (You can also get there after you kill Ultima Weapon, at the end of disc 2).

Lucrecia’s Waterfall – You can get there by a blue, black or gold Chocobo, or using the submarine. This place is a hidden cave at Corel mountains and you can get there Vincent’s ultimate weapon and limit break, as well as learning an important part of the FF7 story.

The Step-By-Step guide!

This section sums up all the above information into direct instructions on how to get a Golden Chocobo, which would allow obtaining the Knights of the Round Materia and the other neat rewards.

Before you start your quest, make sure you have enough money (at least 300,000 Gil, check How should I prepare myself? for tips on how to farm money) and that you’re after the part where Cloud returns to be the leader.

Go to the Chocobo Farm, enter the building on the left, talk to the man in there (Choco Bill) and rent yourself six Chocobo stables (60,000 Gil total).

Go forth and obtain the needed nuts: The Carob and the Zeio nuts. For the Carob Nut, you’ll need to fight a red dragon called Vlakorados and steal the Carob Nut from it. You can find him on the area near Bone Village. After you get 3 Carob Nuts, you’ll need to get 1 Zeio nut, which can be stolen from Goblin, on Goblin Island (an island in the north-east part of the map). Check How do I get the proper Nuts and Greens? for pictures and maps.

It’s Chocobo hunting time! (Check How do I catch a Chocobo? if you don’t know how to). Equip the Chocobo Lure Materia, and go to the Chocobo tracks on the area east of Gold Saucer. You’ll need to catch a ‘Good’ Chocobo, which only appears with one or two Spencers, like this one:These are Spencers. That Chocobo’s type will be “Good”.

After you’ve caught your Chocobo, press [Cancel] to get off of him and choose to send him back to the stables. Now you should save, and enter the Chocobo Farm. Go to the building on the right, talk to the little kid in there (Choco Billy), and select “Moving Chocobos”. When you see the Chocobo you’ve caught earlier, Choco Billy will indicate that it’s a Good Chocobo (he’ll say: “Mmm, this seems like a good Chocobo”). Press [OK] and the Chocobo will move into the stable. After the Chocobo moves in, you’ll see his gender. Make sure it is a Male Chocobo! If your Chocobo isn’t a male one, reload the game and talk to Choco Billy again, repeating the process until you get a male one (remember, the gender is randomly chosen, you don’t have to catch another one!).

Now that you’ve got yourself a Good Male Chocobo, you’ll need a Great Female one. To catch her, go to the Chocobo tracks near Mideel, or the ones near Rocket Town, equip the Chocobo Lure Materia and try to catch her. If you chose the tracks near Mideel, the Great Chocobo will appear with one or two Spirals, like this:
A “Spiral” monster accompanying a “Great” Chocobo.

If you chose the tracks near Rocket Town, the Great Chocobo will appear with two Valron or with two Kyuvilduns, like in these pictures:

Two Valrons and a “Great” Chocobo.A Great Chocobo can appear with two Kyuvilduns.

My advice would be to try catching the Great Chocobo at the tracks near Rocket Town, since the chances of meeting a Chocobo with one or two Spirals are very low.

Anyway, after you catch your Chocobo, save your game, return to the Chocobo Farm, talk to Choco Billy and select “Moving Chocobos”, he’ll say that your Chocobo is great and determine its gender. This time the Chocobo’s gender should be a Female. If Choco Billy says that he’s a male, reload your game and talk to him again until he’ll say that your Chocobo is a female.

By now you should have two Chocobos: A Good Male and a Great Female. We’re going to feed them Sylkis Greens. To get those, go to the Chocobo Sage’s house (near the Icicle Inn on the northern continent of the world map) and buy 10 Sylkis Greens (50,000 gil total). Go back to the Chocobo Farm, talk to Choco Billy and select “Feeding Chocobos”. Feed each of your Chocobos with 5 Sylkis to boost their status.

Head on to the Golden Saucer, it’s Chocobo racing time! You will need to race the two Chocobos you’ve caught and move them up a class, from Class C (the default class) to Class B. Go to the Chocobo Square and talk to Ester in the top-left corner of the room. She’ll ask you with which Chocobo you will be participating the race, and what will be the length of the race. I would advise choosing the shorter route because it’s easier in the lower ranks. Race and win 3 times with each of your Chocobos 3 times in order to move them up to class B (a Chocobo moves up a class when he wins 3 times, but not necessarily in a row).Check list:
At this point you should have:
A Good Male Chocobo (Class B)
A Great Female Chocobo (Class B)

At the Chocobo Farm, talk to Choco Billy and select “Mating Chocobos”. Select the two Chocobos you have by “talking” to them. After that you’ll be asked with which nut you want to feed them in order to make them breed. Select the Carob Nut. Now with a bit of luck, you should have a green or a blue Chocobo!

Now for a somewhat boring part – you’ll need to wait for the parents (Good male, Great female) to mature, because they need to breed again soon. Go outside into the world map and fight anywhere between 3 to 10 battles, this should be enough for the parents to have recovered. Go back to the Chocobo Farm (save before you enter). Now comes the tricky part: If you got a Green Chocobo (most likely), make the Good Male and the Great Female breed again (using a Carob Nut) but this time you’ll need to get a Blue Chocobo and he should be of the opposite sex of the green one! If you didn’t get him, reload your game and try again! If you got the Blue Chocobo on the first time, you should get a green one (of the opposite sex). Not too complicated, but you’ll need to reload the game a few times o_O. If you find yourself stuck, and keep getting an offspring with the same color, you might have a problem with the game’s RNG mechanism. Check out Chocobo Breeding combinations for help on how to resolve this.Check list:
By now you should have 4 Chocobos:
A Good Male (Class B)
A Great Female (Class B)
A Green Chocobo
A Blue Chocobo (of the opposite sex!)

Go to the Chocobo Sage’s house again and buy 20 Sylkis Greens (100,000 gil). Feed both your Blue Chocobo and your Green Chocobo with 10 Sylkis each. This should boost their stats so that they can easily cruise through the races.

Return to Gold Saucer and race your Green and Blue Chocobo until each one is at class A (you’ll need to win with each Chocobo 6 times).

Breed these Chocobos (the blue and green one) with a Carob Nut in order to get a Black Chocobo.

Now for a somewhat annoying part: You will need to catch a Wonderful Chocobo. Equip your Chocobo Lure Materia and head to the Chocobo tracks in the Icicle Area (the snowy area in the northern continent). The Wonderful Chocobo will appear with one or two Jumpings by his side, like this:
A Jumping and a Wonderful Chocobo by his side.

This kind of fight is very rare, last time it took me about an hour and a half to finally encounter him! Anyway, after you catch him, send the Chocobo back to the stables.

Return to the Chocobo Farm (as usual, save before you enter), talk to Choco Billy and select “Moving Chocobos”. He should say “This…is a wonderful Chocobo!”, and determine its gender, Make sure that his gender is the opposite sex of the Black Chocobo that you already have. If not, reload and try again.Check list:
6 Chocobos:
A Good Male (Class B)
A Great Female (Class B)
A Green Chocobo (Class A)
A Blue Chocobo (of the opposite sex of the Green one, Class A)
A Black Chocobo
A Wonderful Chocobo (of the opposite sex of the Black one)

Since all of the 6 stables you’ve rented are taken, I suggest releasing the Good Male and the Great Female Chocobos, in order to make room for the Gold Chocobo you’re about to have. Talk to Choco Billy and select “Releasing Chocobos”. Release those Chocobos.

Go to the Chocobo Sage’s house and buy 20 Sylkis Greens (100,000 gil), feed 10 Sylkis to the Black Chocobo and 10 to the Wonderful Chocobo.

Race the Black and the Wonderful Chocobo until both are at class A.

Mate these two with a Zeio Nut and cross your fingers… If you’re lucky, you should get a Gold Chocobo!! Your objective is finally complete! Make sure you give a cool name like “Goldy”, “Wing”, “Timmy” or whatever..
With the aid of your new Chocobo, you can now obtain some sweet rewards.

The first thing you’ll probably want to do is collecting the most powerful Materia in FF7, Knights of the Round. To get that, hop on your Golden Chocobo (doesn’t that sound cool?) by talking to Choco Billy and selecting “Riding Chocobos”. Go to a small island called Round Island, which is located in the north-east part of the map. Get off your Chocobo, enter the cave and collect the Materia. For the rest of the secret stuff you can take only with a Chocobo, click here.

You can collect more great prizes with your Golden Chocobo by racing it in Gold Saucer. Make sure you feed him first though. 25-27 Sylkis Greens should be enough to max out his stats. Your Chocobo should have about 999 Stamina and ~150 Top Speed. Just level up your Chocobo to the S-Class (should really be a piece of cake). In the S-Class you can win some great prizes like: Precious Watch, Counter Attack, Enemy Lure Materia, Enemy Away Materia, Chocobo Bracelet, Cat’s Bell, Megalixirs, Hero Drinks and many more.

History / List of changes

February 2002 – First version of the guide postedMay 2004 – Lots of grammar and spelling mistakes fixed (I was pretty young back then ^^)August 2007 – Wow, I had no idea this guide was so famous. Fixed some more grammar/spelling, changed font size so that ‘normal’ people can read it now. :> I’m planning to add some more information soon, regarding some changes between the Playstation version and the PC version.July 2008 – Moved the site to a new URL and file host. No more annoying pop-ups and banners! Added information about Chocobo Lure materia, and the effects of different Greens when trying to catch a Chocobo. Corrected some more formatting and spelling.October 2015 – Whoa… It’s been a while since I’ve last updated this guide. To be honest I have never expected this guide to become so popular. I appreciate each and every e-mail you guys are sending! In any case. In this version I have fixed a ton of grammatical errors. I was 14 when I originally wrote this guide, and English is not my native language. In addition, I have added some information regarding the RNG bug. Hopefully this helps all the poor folks out there who are having trouble getting a Blue Chocobo. I am personally very excited for the release of the FFVII remake, and I will go through great lengths in order to update my guide with relevant information when the game is finally out.